Kason's First Year

Kason's First Year - Page Text Content

S: George Kason Ebert February 28, 2011

BC: Made with lots of LOVE, Your Mommy Leianne

FC: George Kason

1: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

5: It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.

13: A Baby Is A Bit Of Stardust Blown From Heaven | After more than 24 hours of labor, your heart rate started to drop and mommy was rushed back for a C-section. You came out with a cone head from being stuck. But you were darling none-the-less.

14: "A Baby's Love Is Best Of All" | New to the world | Aunt Laura and Great Grandma Jou Jou (Georgia) came to welcome you into the world

15: "What A Life Eating Sleeping Playing Pooping ... And Being Cute" | Grandma Jou Jou seeing pictures of Kason for the first time. Honored to be named after her. (80 yrs old) | Dr. Hardt

16: God in heaven hear my prayer, keep me in thy loving care. Be my guide in all I do, Bless all those who love me too.

21: First Days at Home | The dogs are thrilled with their new house mate

22: Getting Situated into having a sleepless baby!

26: First Doctor's Appointment (5 Days Old)

27: Instant Bond! | Meeting Opa for the 1st Time

28: "It's The Little Things In Life That Matter Most"

29: Playing with Grandma

30: First Bath at Home

32: The first several weeks were very tiring as we learned each other. They were rewarding too. Watching you smile and grow day by day was amazing. Quickly enough you started sleeping on a normal schedule and mom and dad were able to get some much needed rest. You had some classic facial expressions and are always smiling!

34: Snoozing in the Sun

35: First Trip from Uncle Lance

36: A rare find: Mom and Kason sleeping | Dad Playing and Reading with Kason | Napping with Uncle Lance

37: First St. Patty's Day. Lots of Kisses!

39: Newborn Photos

40: "Twinkle twinkle little star; do you know how loved you are?"

41: Newborn Photos - 5 Days Old

42: Smiles from a handsome baby! | 1 Month Old

43: Starting to sleep in 4-5 hour spurts. Mom remembers the first night you slept 5 hours. Mom woke up feeling completely refreshed and ready to take on the day. It was 2am.

44: What is he doing???

45: Smiles Adoration Love

46: Meeting Great Granddad for the first time. He loved you from the moment he saw you. It was so fun to watch him hold you and just be in complete awe of what an incredible little being you are. The love showered on you from everyone is truly an amazing thing to watch.

49: Spending time with your Great Grandmother were some of your mom's favorite moments your first year. We went to visit her in Austin at 5 weeks old. She rocked you to sleep and cuddled and loved on you all day long. You are definitely the apple of her eye and she loves to spend time with you and soak in all your baby love. Mom remembers taking you to the rehab hospital to see her after her knee replacement surgery. You sat with her on the bed and played pat-a-cake with her. Mom still remembers grandma saying "Why do they give those boys those long eyelashes" as she was gazing at your beautiful eyes.

50: Mom and Dad's first date post baby! We went to Roadhouse and enjoyed a steak and NO CRYING!

51: When you wouldn't stop crying, dad would blow in your face to startle you to stop. It was too funny. | Milk Comatose

52: 5 weeks Old First Trip to Fredericksburg Visiting Great Grandparents and the Westfall's

53: Time with Aunt Anne. You two love each other so much.

55: Just Like Daddy

57: At 6 weeks you were sleeping between 6-8 hours straight at night! HOW WONDERFUL! You were a good sleeper starting around 4 weeks which was such a blessing. You would often fall asleep on your boppy pillow during the much dreaded tummy time. We would put bandannas around your head to make you look like Willie Nelson. You still feel asleep on mommy periodically to nap, you loved your baths and spending time with you oma, opa and other grandparents. You were all in all a very mild mannered easy baby.

58: Celebrating God's Grace through Faith | Kason's First Easter

62: You were such a trooper with your first shots. You cried for about 15 seconds and then stopped and went along your merry way. You were very tired that afternoon (as expected) and got lots of snuggle time with mommy. The dogs knew you didn't feel good so they cuddled up next to you to give you some added warmth, love and comfort.

63: 2 Months Old

67: 3 Months Old

68: Father's Day 2012 (4 months)

70: You love to eat. You are a good eater and took right to the rice cereal the first time we fed it to you. You were a mess, but loved it!

71: You were always a good traveler. We took you to Austin and the Lake in Corpus several times. Additionally we made trips to Fredericksburg and Brady to see other family. You loved going to Austin to see your cousin Kenna. You always watched every move she made and she loved to spend time with you.

72: The Three Musketeer's Kason, Daddy and Opa

73: 4 months

75: 4th of July Lake Mathis

77: Fun times with the Gibson's and the Wisian's (Megan's 3rd Birthday)

78: Pinky: "Brain, what are we going to do tonight?" Brain: "Same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!"

79: Spinach | Zucchini | First Throw Up

80: 5 1/2 month

83: I love this cry face. One of the nursery ladies at church loves when you cry because she says your mouth always goes into a rectangle/ square. It's too cute.

84: How'd he do that?

86: Kason's 6 Month Birthday Celebration (Zucchini Cupcake)

87: Some of my favorite moments

89: Pumpkin Patch 7 Months Old

90: Corn???? When did I eat CORN???

91: Baby Picasso | Painting Pumpkins 7 1/2 Months Old

92: Halloween 2011

95: Thanksgiving 2011 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Kason and Daddy putting the 1st ornament on the tree!

114: Kason's First Hair(s) Cut | Your hair was almost 6in long. We had about 2-3 inches cut off into a little boy's haircut. You were such a good boy. The hairdresser let you play a game with her iPhone and you were in heaven. You didn't cry, and you let her even use the electric razor to get your sideburns even.

115: You slept as Mommy and Daddy crossed the finish line. Mom finished in 2:07 and Dad finished in 1:45

121: Howdy Pardner! Check out my 1st birthday party. We had a rootin-scootin fun time It's a party I'll never remember. But don't tell my mom that!

125: George Kason: (Year in Review from your mother's perspective) It's hard for us to even explain what this year has been like. It's certainly been a roller coaster of fun, emotions, adjustments, no-sleep and back to normal sleep, love, praise, discipline (saying "NO!")... etc., etc. I remember the day I went into labor with you. We had just picked up Grandma and Grandpa (Leianne's parents) from the airport after they returned from their mission trip to China (Saturday, February 26). We had dinner with them that Saturday night. I was feeling good and not expecting you to come for a little while longer (your due date was the day before, so you were already 2 days overdue). As of that Friday (2/25, your due date), we had made no "progress" in terms of you wanting to come into this world, so we just assumed it would be another week or so... Sunday morning (2/27), I woke up, Daddy made me breakfast; we got ready and went to church. I had a thing while I was pregnant to act like life was normal and not to accommodate much just because I was pregnant. I figured woman get pregnant and have babies all the time, I can continue to live a normal life... even being pregnant. So, I dressed up, wore makeup, did my hair and put my HIGH heels on. Church went by normal, I had noticed some slight cramping but didn't think much of it. After all, I was 40+ weeks pregnant, and your little buns were getting ready to come out of the oven. When we came home from church the cramping started to become more frequent and by 4pm that afternoon, I figured your arrival was probably not too far away. The day wore on, and John decided that he was going to go to bed early so he wouldn't be tired for work on Monday. I had a good inkling that I would not be going to work on Monday. (I did work up until the day I had you) We had gone for a walk around 7 or 8 that evening and daddy noticed that I was not walking at my traditional pace... even being 9 months pregnant, he had noticed that I had slowed down... significantly. As we were walking that evening, I remember talking to your father and saying... you know our luck, I'm probably going into labor and everyone just went home. You see, all of your grandparents had been here that morning, but since I was still feeling good and had made no progress, they went home. That's right... Grandma and Grandpa made the 4-hour drive home to Brady after their 2-week escapade to China and Opa made his 8-hour drive back down to Corpus after his weekend trip to Fort Worth. By 10pm that night, I was in pretty normal labor; I had woken up your father and had him go walking with me to help ease the pain. We walked around 1/2 a mile and it took about 30 minutes. By 11:30 my contractions were very regular every 3-5 minutes, so we went to the hospital. We got checked in and I remember John asking the nurse if we were going to have the baby or if this was just a "false alarm." Her response, "You're not leaving the hospital until that baby is in your arms." OKAY! Well I guess that means we are going to have you sometime soon. After a long sleepless night of walking the hospital hallways to ease the labor pains, the morning arrived and Dr. Hardt had come to see us and check on progress. Things were moving along... slowly. She thought that I'd have you by lunch, probably earlier. Well 9am came and went, then 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm... all with progress but SLOW going. Around 3:30, you started to get "frustrated" and tired; your heart rate started to play the diving game where it would go low, low, low, then back to normal. After about an hour of this, you had a hard time getting it back to normal so they pulled me back for a semi-emergency C-section. You arrived at 4:43pm on Monday, February 28, 2011. We were relieved when you finally arrived because the last hour had been quite intense. Daddy got to hold you first and take all the pictures of you. I got to hold you briefly after you were born, but had to wait to really hold you and feed you until I got back into our room. You were perfect, even though you did come out with a small cone head and a little bruise on your face. From the beginning you looked like your Opa. You squinted your eye just like he does. You also came out with really dark hair but over the course of the year it lightened drastically. The nights and days in the hospital were nice. The nurses took good care of you and helped Mom and Dad get adjusted to being new parents. It's an adjustment to say the least. You were so good in the hospital and didn't cry much at all. I thought, this won't be too bad.

126: Then we came home from the hospital. Suddenly, you cried all night long. We only slept in spurts of 1-2 hours and I was EXHAUSTED! Daddy stayed home with us the first week. I remember crying when he went back to work that next Monday because I didn't know how I would take care of you all by myself all day. The first 3 weeks were hard. I guess it's normal, but babies only sleep in spurts of 1-3 hours, so the sleeping I got was minimal at best. At 3 1/2 week though we started to make some MAJOR breakthroughs. First off, you smiled for the first time, which was incredibly rewarding. At 4 weeks, you slept for 4 hours straight. It's amazing how much 1 extra hour of sleep helps you feel like a new person. At 6 weeks you were sleeping 6 hours in a row and by 8 weeks, 8 hours. I went back to work when you were 9 weeks old. The night before I went back to work, you slept the full 12 hours that I had been working on getting you to. It was amazing. You were such a great sleeper from an early age and that really helped your dad and me get back to a normal routine. It took several months, but by the time you were 3 months old we would take you places at night and you would sleep through it. It is incredible to see what a baby can sleep through. Up until around 6 months, you could sleep through anything. Your grandmother is an occupational therapist, so she stressed to me the importance of tummy time. Lord, did we attempt tummy time... daily... it was my most favorite time of the day... NOT! You screamed bloody murder every day I put you on your tummy. You hated it. Once you figured out how to roll onto your tummy, and better yet, back to your back, you loved tummy time... but by that time, you could go in whichever direction you wanted so it didn't really matter. Starting at 4 months, we were able to start feeding you rice cereal. I remember Dr. Nash telling me not to be surprised if it took several weeks for you to start enjoying baby food. You loved it from the first bite. You were such a good eater. We could feed you virtually any vegetable and you would eat it (except for spinach). I made and froze all your baby food that we used at the house and Ms. Mary (your day care sitter) fed you Gerber. You ate anything: green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, asparagus, chicken... You also moved to table foods really quickly. By about 7-8 months, you wanted to eat what was on everyone else plate and you wanted to feed yourself. So we started to feed you simple table foods instead of pureeing everything. Mrs. Mary has been a wonderful care-taker for you. We love her so much. She has always been good to feed you wholesome well-rounded meals, she loved to play with you and teach you. You really enjoyed being in a daycare with a variety of ages because you loved to watch all the kids playing. You were always on Katie's heels, who is 3 months older than you. When she started crawling you made it your mission to keep up with her, when she started eating on her own, you tried to do it as well... and the trend just continues. We went through a lot of adjustments, a big adjustment was for your dad and I to figure out how to balance work, spend time with you, spend time with each other and try to workout and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It took us about 8 months, but we finally got back into a good routine. In fact, we ran a 1/2 marathon 2 days before your 1st birthday! You came to cheer us on through the finish line. I had a lot of fun making your first Halloween costume. We dressed you up as BATMAN! That is your Aunt Anne's favorite superhero and we wanted to dress you up like him in honor of her. You look stellar! You were a great batman but you only made it about 5 minutes into trick or treating before you fell asleep. For Thanksgiving you ate all the normal Thanksgiving food because you were on table food by then. You and daddy hung the first ornament on the Christmas tree, and you tried to eat one of the C9 bulbs when I took you

127: for a photo op in the front yard with the Christmas lights. To make it better, I had the lights turned on, so I nearly electrocuted you. Luckily you listen to me pretty well so as I was screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" you stopped, looked at me, which gave me enough time to run to you and take it out of your mouth. Thinking back about it, it was one of those "what was I thinking moments"... well I was thinking I would get a great picture out of it... and I DID! I'm grateful you didn't chomp down on the bulb. I'm still smiling thinking of you on Christmas Eve at Great Mary's and Great Granddad's house. You were so impressed with all the presents and the lights. You loved Christmas and all the attention. Great Granddad gave you a pair of Lederhosen (German overalls). Great Mary had put them in a round box. The round box was your favorite "gift." You played with that all evening. You also enjoyed going to your Grandma Jou-Jou's house and digging through all of the wrapping paper from Christmas festivities there. Another one of my favorite moment(s) over the first year of your life was watching you and your Great Grandmother Jou-Jou spend time together. She was so enamored with you from the first time she saw you. She and your Aunt Laura drove up from Austin to see you in the hospital when you were born. At 5 weeks, I took you down to see her in Austin and you two were inseparable. We went to see her after her knee replacement surgery and you spent all morning with her in the rehab hospital entertaining her and bringing joy to her. It was truly a special time for me to watch. I also really enjoyed watching how proud my dad (your grandfather) is of you. He just beams when he seems you. He always says you smile like Harvey (your Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother Jou-Jou's husband). Over the course of the year you got cuter and cuter and more and more of a personality. It's hard to believe sometimes how quickly you have grown. A year went by so quickly. I remember those sleepless first couple of weeks wandering if I would ever sleep again... quicker than I knew it we returned to a normal life, but with a new and very special little addition to it. We love you more than you will ever be able to comprehend (at least until you have a child of your own). We are so proud of (most) everything you do and we just love to watch you grow into a young boy. We are embracing the time we have now. Each stage is so special and goes by so quickly, but the stages we move into are equally fun and enjoyable to learn and watch. Finally some of my favorite "little moments" were watching John feed you a bottle for the first time. Listen to you coo and be so pleased after eating a bottle, your attempts to say mommy as we drove home from daycare, playing "Where's Kason?" Tickle time, your laugh is contagious. Nearly everytime we pointed a camera towards you, you would stop and smile as if to pose for the picture. Watching daddy blow in your face to try and get you to stop crying. John singing "who let the dogs out" as he woke you up in the morning or when he would make your bed earthquake to wake you up. Watching you sleep. I loved how cuddly you got when you were sick. Spending time in the recliner in the morning letting you snuggle with me while you drank your milk. The classic faces you gave when you tried food... regardless if you liked it or not. You lip smack kisses. Waving hi and bye. Sucking your two fingers to calm down. Your intense frustration when we'd try to make you walk. How you liked to turn things with wheels over and figure out how it worked. Bath time, you and daddy dancing to Texas country (I'm okay if you're okay, okay?).... and there are many many more. We're looking forward to all the years to come. We love you Kason and are so grateful for the beautiful blessing you are on our lives. Love- Mommy and Daddy